The Jabra Elite 7 Pro are my perfect earbuds.
Janhoi McGregor
It’s easy to buy a good pair of earbuds. If you strolled into Best Buy right now, obnoxiously slapped $200 down on the counter and demanded a pair of earbuds, the cashier will return with something good.
The competition in the market is such that most devices, at a certain price point, are going to deliver for their money—especially from the big players like Apple, Samsung and Sony. But finding the pair? With the right mix of features at good price? Now that is an entirely different ball game.
Apple’s AirPods and Sony’s WF-1000XM4 earbuds are performance leaders, but they’re expensive. The Samsung Galaxy Buds have some excellent smart features, but the call quality is inconsistent. Enter the Jabra Elite 7 Pro—my perfect earbuds
I know this because I use them daily, which, as a reviewer, is high praise. They don’t have the best audio profile, nor are they the best at active noise cancelling. But they are all-rounders with one standout feature at a good price.
They’re selling for about $160 now, which is the same as Apple’s 3rd Gen Airpods that don’t have the ‘Pro’ features that these come with. You can pick up the Galaxy Buds 2 for cheaper, or the Pro model for more, but neither quite match up in execution. If you have ever read my reviews you will know that, like Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, I value versatility at a low price point over powerhouse features with another decimal point. They also stand out in one particular category: call quality.
The Jabra Elite 7 Pro earbuds offer some of the best call quality on the market. I noted this in my 2021 review. “Jabra’s ‘MultiSensor Voicebone’ technology has levelled the playing field. Like many buds the Elite 7 Pro have a voice processing unit that analyses and isolates your voice whilst removing interfering sounds when talking. But there’s an additional bone conduction sensor that picks up vibrations in your jaw when speaking, this is combined with microphones and other technology to deliver really clear call quality. The result? A friend could not tell I was walking through a busy market near my house when chatting.”
Hearing is believing. Once I realised the stark difference in call quality between the Jabra earbuds and other devices, some of which made it sound like I was underwater, I made the switch. Aside from other reviews, I haven’t looked back since.
This is important because I am on the phone often and therefore call quality is a feature I place a high value on. One person I was speaking with said they couldn’t tell the difference as I switched between the phone’s microphone and the earbuds. They blow the competition out of the water in this department.
But they are also genuine all-rounders that sound good. The mid and high frequencies come through really clearly and different elements in a track are easily distinguished, producing a rich sound. The bass could have a bit more power but toggling the bass boost preset is satisfying enough. The Sound+ app offers granular controls. You can switch between presets for the type of music you’re listening to, or tinker with the equaliser. For the price, there is a lot of depth here.
For an old head like me, the physical button is also a welcome diversion from the capacitive area on alternatives that have mixed results when it comes to registering inputs. They are rated IP57 against water and dust, they’re light weight, have long battery life and the elongated eartips mean they’re more secure in my ears, which usually struggle to hold larger buds.
Jabra’s more sonically impressive 85T earbuds are bigger, heavier and don’t stay in place as well. The Danish company rectified both of those issues with the Elite 7 Pro, but at the expense of sound quality, which is a trade-off I can live with. The Jabra Elite 7 Pro swagger along a fine line between price, performance and features, which is not easy to do.
You get what you pay for
You know that satisfying moment when you flip the lid open on a brand new pair of Airpods, Galaxy Buds or Pixel Buds and your phone immediately recognises them with the prompt ‘want to pair Janhoi’s airpods’? Yeah, the Jabra earbuds don’t do that. There’s no swish animation, there’s no spatial audio or voice detect feature that automatically pauses music when you start talking.
No, these are the everyman earbuds. Pie and mash earbuds. There’s no Salt Bae arm hair sprinkled onto a steak marinated in gold leaf here. These are a familiar meal that is executed perfectly and seasoned in a normal way. If you want the pizzazz, you might need to look elsewhere.
There are other potential deal breakers for buyers here. The noise cancelling tech, for example, is distinctly average. One of my review tests is seeing how well a pair of earbuds can block out the anxiety-inducing screech of the London Underground. The Jabra’s don’t do that unless you crank the volume up, which I don’t like to do. If you need excellent noise cancelling then you will need to throw some money at Sony.
The other deal-breaker is linked to this. Jabra clearly tried to offset the ANC issue with a design that prioritises passive noise cancelling. The long tips burrow deeply into your ear canal, thus creating a seal against the outside world. If you struggle with the plugged-ear feeling, these aren’t for you. The case is also fiddly and sometimes awkward to open. You can’t just flip the lid up with one thumb in a smooth, cool move like you can with the Pixel Buds. They have, however, improved over time – getting a firmware update that enabled Bluetooth multipoint last year.
In my initial review I felt that the launch price was just slightly too high for what was on offer. But after taking phone calls on them for a year, I can’t go back. Add to that the multipoint firmware update and the price cut, they comfortably sit in the value for money category. For me, there’s just something thrilling about a good product at a low price. I imagine it’s the same dopamine hit that people get when they hold up grocery queues with stacks of magazine coupons to cash in (I have nothing but respect for this). I feel equally as smug with the Jabra Elite 7 Pro.
More on Forbes
Samsung, Google & Microsoft Slash Prices For Pixel 7 Pro, S23 Ultra, Surface & More
